MOSCOW: Crude oil exports via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) pipeline reached 61.1 million tonnes in 2018, up 5.98 million tonnes on a year earlier, the consortium said on Thursday.

Oil from Kazakhstan accounted for 54.3 million tonnes, with the rest coming from Russia, CPC data showed.

The Kazakh oil included 28.7 million tonnes from Tengiz, 10.3 million tonnes from Karachaganak and 13.2 million tonnes from Kashagan, the data showed.

CPC expects to export 67.7 million tonnes of CPC Blend oil in 2019 based on producers' requests for this year, CPC Chief Executive Nikolai Gorban said. That is a rise of 11 percent.

He said oil from Tengiz would account for a little more than 30.3 million tonnes, with 11.3 million tonnes coming from Karachaganak and 14.6 million tonnes coming from Kashagan.

Market participants said CPC's plans to hike oil exports in 2019 looked ambitious given Kazakhstan has said it would decrease production this year.

Kazakh output is expected to be 89.5 million tonnes in 2019 compared to 90.3 million tonnes in 2018, Energy Minister Kanat Bozumbayev told reporters at the end of 2018, as Kazakhstan complies with output limits agreed with OPEC and others.

Bozumbayev said planned maintenance at Kashagan, Tengiz and Karachaganak oilfields would help Kazakhstan meet those limits.

Exports from those fields are exported via the CPC pipeline, which is run by a consortium including Russian state-owned Transneft, the government of Kazakhstan, U.S. energy firm Chevron and Russia's Lukoil.